


Enough

by HereToWrite



Series: A-Team AUs [4]
Category: The A-Team (TV), The A-Team - All Media Types
Genre: (because it’s a good trope and I love it), ...sort of? Just everyone else thinks he died, Alternate Universe - Mutants, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Team as Family, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22906024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HereToWrite/pseuds/HereToWrite
Summary: Face isn't 100% sure how it all went sideways so fast, but it had.They're running, shooting, shouting, and the van’s right there. It’s waiting, it’s ready, and BA’s there yelling at them to hurry from the driver's seat and they’re only mere feet away. They’re going to make it. Then the van explodes.Or BA has a secret but it’s the kind that’s going to save his life and others
Series: A-Team AUs [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1162397
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	Enough

**Author's Note:**

> To avoid confusion this is in no way tied to my Mutant Murdock story...I just really like this specific type of AU

Face isn't 100% sure how it all went sideways so fast, but it had. 

They're running, shooting, shouting, and the van’s right there. It’s waiting, it’s ready, and BA’s there yelling at them to hurry from the driver's seat and they’re only mere feet away. They’re going to make it. Then the van explodes. 

Next to him Murdock erupts into screams, the noise piercing through the ringing in Faces’ ears and the horror in his stomach. For one terrible moment he can’t move. He can’t even breathe. His feet frozen, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. BA had been in there. There’s a rustle of fabric as Murdock tries to race past him into the wreckage and something about the thought of having two of his friends get barbecued on the same day spurs him into action. Almost without thinking, and definitely with no real plan in mind, Face snags the taller man by the back of the jacket and drags him behind some crates. Wincing at the splintering sound of bullets against wood. That had been too close.

He looks around wildly, clinging to Murdock, terrified to let the struggling man go lest he try and make his way into the wreckage. He can’t think straight, he can’t figure out what to do. All he can focus on are the flames that dance around the charred remains of BA’s most prized possession. All he can feel is the intense heat of it. All he can think of is, ‘BA had been in there. BA had been in there. BA had been in there.’ Without ever quite believing it to be true.

He makes eye contact with Hannibal, pinned down on the other side of the warehouse, and the older man is yelling something, but all Face can hear is Murdock’s wailing in his ears. The strangled laments of a grieving soldier. 

BA had been in there.

Something lets out an ominous click and Face’s head swivels around to look down the barrel of a gun. No doubt loaded. Well at least now he knew what Hannibal’s desperate screaming had been about. It was too late now of course, but it was nice to have the question answered. The man behind the gun is saying something, but Face can’t bring himself to care, his mind whirling. Any action he takes at this point will result in him letting go of Murdock and Face doesn’t know if he can bring himself to do that. Understands that the moment he let’s go of the still struggling man he’ll race into the wreckage. Regardless of the danger, regardless of the flames. Murdock wouldn’t be stopped, not by flames, not by metal, but he would most certainly stop breathing.

Face looks at Hannibal desperately, and the older man looks more scared than Face has ever seen him. There’s something haunted and desperate in those blue eyes and he knows that there’s no rescue coming from that side of the warehouse. Face gulps. He’s going to die. They’re all going to die. Right there, in a warehouse full of imported flour and illegal weapons, he doesn’t know why they hadn't realized that earlier.

The gunman smiles and Face clings tighter to Murdock, twisting the madman’s body away from the gun, as if by some miracle he can take all the bullets and spare his friend. Wishful thinking. He doesn’t care. The gunman laughs. Face closes his eyes. 

Something barrels into his side, tossing him across the room and into a pile of flour sacks next to Hannibal. Face coughs, eyes watering as white powder exploded into the air obscuring his vision.

Murdock, he thinks frantically. Where was Murdock?

He’d lost his grip on his jacket, stupid, the man was going to try and—he stops, his train of thought screeching to a halt as he lays eyes on their pilot. He isn’t screaming, he isn’t struggling, rather he’s just sitting still as a statue, his face pale and his mouth agape.

“Murdock?” Face scrambles over, “Murdock, what’s wrong?”

Murdock doesn’t reply, he doesn’t even move, just sits there with a look of fear that almost rivals the one from BA’s death. Face turns, eyes swiping the warehouse floor in an attempt to find the answer, and freezes. There, plowing into bad guys and howling in a way that would’ve given even Murdock a run for his money, is BA. Jacket seared off and smoking, but pants somehow blessedly in place, as he smashes his fist into a gunman.

“Can you see him?” Face jumps, whirling around to face Murdock. “Please tell me you can see him,” Murdock’s voice pitches towards hysteria, “because if you can’t I don’t think I’m going to be able to cope with the crazy this time around.”

Face opens his mouth to respond, but his tongue feels like sandpaper, his voice box a deseret. As the situation dries up his words and leaves him alone.

“Face,” Murdock whimpers.

Face gulps, “I can see him. He’s alive. You’re not crazy.” That last bit may have been a lie, but he’s too bewildered to correct himself. 

“But he was in the van,” Murdock counters. “He blew up.”

“Yeah,” Face agrees, then irrationally suggests. “Do you think he’s a ghost?”

“Nah, ghosts can’t touch you,” Murdock explains easily. “It’s an ongoing problem between my Ma and me when she comes over to visit. I think that he just survived.”

“But that’s not possible. He’s not even injured,” Face watches as a most definitely not injured BA lifts a most certainly injured hired gun over his head and then launches said hired gun into a pile of crates. 

“You can see him too, right?” Face manages not to jump at the question, but only just turning to see Hannibal studying the chaos in front of them. Distantly he wonders when he became everybody’s hallucination tester, but that hardly seems important at the moment.

“Yeah, so can Murdock. Are you sure he was in the van?” Maybe this was just one of Hannibal’s big plans. Honestly, he’s a little surprised that the boss man hadn’t faked one of their deaths earlier. The cons they could pull with that.

But Hannibal just frowns, his eyes hard and calculating, “I’m sure. I thought he was…gone, just like you two did.” There’s a pause there that speaks volumes in its silence. Regret and fear and horror all rolled up into a fumble of words. 

“Right, so then how’d he survive?”

“Maybe he’s like Superman,” Murdock suggests, like that’s all he’s been thinking about since BA came back. “Except that he don’t like to fly so maybe that’s too much of a stretch. Unless that’s really where his fear of flying came from. Flying into one too many pigeons could scar any man. Have you seen those things go after a piece of bread? Vicious.” 

“Superman’s not real,” Face counters weakly, but that argument feels a lot less solid when he’s watching BA walk towards them with not a burn on his body.

The bigger man stops in front of them, two steps farther away than he normally would, with a look of nervousness that seems out of place given his size. 

No one says anything. Content to stare as the tension in the room rises and BA’s scowl increases. To Face’s surprise it’s not Murdock that breaks the silence, but BA himself, his face contorting into an emotion Face can’t quite place.

“Listen, I ain’t no good at this whole reading people and waitin’ thing so can someone just say something.”

Murdock needs no further permission. He flings himself at BA, closing those extra few steps flawlessly, and crashes into the larger man’s chest with an uncontainable joy. 

“You’re alive!” He squeals, his face breaking into an enormous grin, as he wraps his arms around BA. “Billy thought for sure you were a goner, started howling something fierce, but I told him, I told him, that you were too clever to die right now! I said BA, that old mud sucker, it’ll take more than just a small explosion to stop him!” 

BA doesn’t move to return the hug, if anything his face looks a little bit pained by it, but he also doesn’t move away which is as good as a physical display of affection as any.

Then Hannibal’s face splits into a grin and there’s something dancing in his eyes like he’s just figured out a puzzle and is going to claim later that he’s known about BA all along. He slaps BA on the arm and tells him good job and that they’ll have to use this new found talent of his as BA’s face twists into displeasure at the thought. 

But they all still look happy. They should be happy. BA’s alive. Not only is he alive, but that he’s like something out of one of Murdock’s comic books. Unstoppable and deadly. Immovable and fierce. It makes sense for them to be happy and Face knows that he should be happy too. Happy that BA’s alive. Happy that he’s on their side. Happy that BA being alive managed to save all of them after Hannibal’s plan went terribly south. He should be happy, but instead of joy an irrational anger seeps into his chest. 

Boiling and bubbling and confused, until it spills over out of his mouth and into the air.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” He sneers, pushing Murdock off BA and jabbing a finger into the larger man’s chest. “Do you have any idea what that last five minutes did to us?” Did to me? He doesn’t add, but he can still feel it in his stomach. The grief. The fear. The dread. 

All those emotions that made him feel like a child again. Unadoptable. Unloved. Just small and alone and helpless and he’d sworn, he’s sworn, that he’d never let anyone make him feel that way again. But BA had. He’d taken all those feelings and shoved them violently back into Face’s soul and Face hated that someone had that kind of control over him. 

“Hey man, it’s not like you don’t have secrets,” BA scowls right back, shoving Face’s hand away. “I can have my own if I wants to. Remember Leslie?”

And her name, oh her beautiful name, drags up a whole other wave of feelings that Face doesn’t want to feel anymore and he shoves BA violently. BA doesn’t move. He doesn’t even have the decency to pretend that things are still normal. 

“It’s not the same!” Face screams anyway. “This is different! She isn’t some super powered thing! She just—“ Face’s voice stalls. She just left him, abandoned him, didn’t even say good-bye. Just like BA, only BA...BA had come back. “I need some air,” he shoves BA, who this time steps politely to the side like he should, and walks out. 

He can hear them whispering behind him, he can’t bring himself to care.

Hannibal finds him a couple minutes later, sitting on a crate and staring into nothing. 

“Face?” 

Face doesn’t say anything, doesn’t know what to say. He’s calmer now, the night air having chilled the anger in his heart, but it doesn’t matter. What was said had been said and they all know better than anyone that you can’t change the past.

Hannibal sighs and sits down next to him.

“BA’s worried you hate him.”

He scoffs. Turns his head away. He doesn’t care. Shouldn’t care. Cares a little bit ...cares a lot. 

“I told him that you’re just grieving and having trouble figuring out how to handle that.”

Face wonders if he’s that readable all the time or if Hannibal just knows him too well. Either way he opens his mouth to tell Hannibal he’s wrong, but the words fumble on his tongue.

“He died,” He whispers instead. “We all watched him die. Murdock was screaming so loud. He should’ve told us.” 

Hannibal hums, “You’re right.”

Now that causes Face to turn towards Hannibal shocked despite his best efforts to remain unreadable. 

“We’re a team and we’re not supposed to keep secrets from each other, but Face that goes for all of us,” Hannibal takes out a cigar and lights it, breathing in the smoke. “None of us are perfect Face and we all have secrets. BA’s was just a bit more complicated than yours. He’s scared you know.”

Face snorts, how can anything scare someone like that?

“I know you don’t get it, but imagine yourself in his shoes? You’re different than everyone else and you don’t want that to be taken advantage of so you bury it deep and hide it. You don’t let anyone know growing up and once you have some people you trust you don’t dare tell them, because people are liable to panic and make rash decisions. So you keep quiet until you can’t keep quiet anymore.” 

“He died,” Face says again, trying to get Hannibal to understand, because for a few terrible minutes BA had been dead. Been gone.

Hannibal just stares at Face, blue eyes serious, speaking like his next sentence will solve everything, “Face, whatever you thought then BA isn’t dead now and that’s because of that secret.” 

He gets up after that, pats Face on the shoulder, and walks back into the warehouse. Leaving Face to sit there and think. 

There’s a lot to think about. A lot to sort through and he can still feel the confusion swishing around him his stomach. That familiar dull ache that comes with betrayal. He breathes in deeply, closes his eyes, decides that he won’t get any answers out here, and turns to go back inside.

He steps into the warehouse right as everyone is finishing cleaning up the pile of unconscious bodies. At least, BA and Hannibal are finishing cleaning up. Murdock is trailing after BA with a steady string of questions that are probably driving the larger man crazy.

“So how did you get so super? Can you also fly? Or are you just bomb proof? What about leap tall buildings in a single bound? If you can’t fly I think that’s a good second? How did you find out? Did you just know instinctively or did you have to blow up a first time before you knew?” 

BA scowls, he grunts, he pushes Murdock away, but nothing deters the skinner man. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the strange line of questioning the whole dance between the two would almost be normal. 

“Face!” Murdock stops his pattering. “See BA I told you he’d come back! Just a little unbalanced was all, needed to tune the motors!” Murdock leans into Face’s space and whispers dramatically, “I’m using car metaphors so he understands better.” 

BA growls at that and Murdock smiles innocently, “Well, I’ll leave you two alone to talk!”

He slaps Face on the back, like this is all part of some plan only they know about, and is gone before either one of them can protest. 

They stand there awkwardly for a few moments. To Face’s surprise BA speaks first, he runs a hand over his face.

“Listen man, I knows you have questions, hopefully better ones than Murdock, but can we just skip them for now and get to the part where we all stop yelling at each other.”

He looks tired, Face notices suddenly, tired and exposed. He wonders, distantly, if BA had panicked. If he’d felt the same kind of helplessness Face had while he’d been trapped under burning metal and plastic. Alive, but unable to help. He wonders if BA thinks about what could’ve happened if he’d been trapped beneath those flames for just a few more seconds. Face wonders if that’s what Hannibal meant by BA being scared. 

“Can I ask one?” 

BA sighs, “Fine.” 

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

More emotions run across BA’s face in that moment than in all the years Face has known him, before it settles on something neutral. 

“Remember how I told yous guys about my Pa? ‘Bout them people that beat him real bad?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. “That wasn’t the whole story. They didn’t just beat him because they could, they beat him because he was different. Like I’m different.” BA frowns, “Ma panicked after that. We all packed up and moved and I grew up with secrets. With things I was told I shouldn’t tell people, because I needed to keep myself safe. So I didn’t tell no one. When I got older those secrets just stuck. It’s easier to keep secrets when you’re the only one that knows them.”

Face doesn’t say anything for a moment, mostly because his first gut response is to tell BA that he’s never sounded so eloquent, but he pushes that aside. “I’m not happy you didn’t tell us,” he says instead, because it’s important to him that BA understands that. “But I am happy that you aren’t dead and if you not dying has to go hand in hand with your secret then I think I’m okay with that.” 

BA just grunts in response, but there’s a smile on his face and a look of relief that follows. 

“But we’re all still going to have to talk later,” Face reminds him. “I still have questions and I think Murdock has about a million more than I do.” 

BA groans, his head turning to look at Murdock who waves enthusiastically and then gives him a thumbs up. He also mouths ‘hug him,’ which both BA and Face purposefully ignore. 

There’s more to be said and more questions to be asked, but the sun is going down and sirens are starting to echo in the distance. It’s the telltale sign that it’s time to move and without the van the need for escape is even more urgent. 

“We’ll talk later,” Face tells BA.

BA nods, “Sure.” 

Then they’re running and Face hates it. Hates how winded he feels. Hates how dirty and sweaty his suit will be, especially when mixed with the fine layer of flour he’s acquired. And he’ll find time to complain and gripe about it sooner rather than later, but for now it’s okay. Because they’re all okay. They may all be a little more traumatized and a little more confused. They all may have questions and they’re little team might need to adjust to this new normal. But they’re all okay and for now that’s enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who’s back at it again with the A-Team AUs?
> 
> To answer one of Murdock’s questions, BA is invulnerable and has slight(?) super strength. He isn’t going to be lifting any cars or anything like that, but can lift more than the average Joe. Which is why he’s able to throw Face and Murdock across the warehouse.
> 
> I don’t have access to episodes right now and because of that I’m mostly operating off of memory, so if the information about BA’s dad is wrong that’s my bad, but since this is an AU I’m allowing myself some leeway. 
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought in the comments below!


End file.
